The second issue of EuroMedLab News is available on the website of the 23rd IFCC-EFLM European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine to be held in Barcelona (ES) from 19 to 23 May 2019. Donwload your own copy and be sure to know all the "fundamentals" to benefit to the fullest of your participation to the congress.Read More

Wishing you Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year, from the IFCC Executive Board and Office Staff. We take the occasion to inform that the IFCC Office will be closed for Christmas Holidays from December 22nd to January 1st, both inclusive.Read More

The IFCC is deeply sad to announce that our great friend and colleague Jill Tate passed away on 4th December. Jill was a well known and respected figure in the international clinical biochemistry community and within the IFCC. Among many other prominent activities, Jill chaired the IFCC Working Group on Troponin I from 2008-2013 and the IFCC Sub-group for harmonisation of reporting of protein electrophoresis and serum free light chains, and quantification of small monoclonal proteins. Jill was a mentor and role model for many Australian and international Clinical Biochemistry colleagues and will be greatly missed.Read More

eNews December issue is now available. The issue opens with a farewell by Prof. Pillay, eNews Editor in Chief for the past six years. Following items include a report by IFCC President on the IFCC General Conference “Laboratory medicine: preparing for the 2020’s”, an article about the Clinical Chemistry Trainee Council (CCTC), a focus on Accreditation, highlights of recent events in bioethics, and details for the call for nominations for the Univants Award. Latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations and the calendar of Congresses close the issue. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities and news in the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The fourth issue of eJIFCC for 2018 is now available. This issue incorporates the second part of a series of manuscripts that were presented at the conference entitled “Laboratory medicine: meeting the needs of the Mediterranean nations”, held in Rome, between July 2-4, 2018, with professor Sergio Bernardini as the Conference President. Articles address the following topics: • Improving efficiency in laboratory medicine; • Perinatal and pregnancy laboratory medicine; • Mediterranean diet and the area’s specific diseases.Read More

Don't miss the IFCC Task Force for Young Scientists seventh Complimentary Educational Webinar: Essential Skills to Structure a Paper. Presented on Thursday, December 13th, 2018 by Dr Anthony Newman, Elsevier Publishing, this free educational webinar will help you to focus on the essential skills needed to structure an excellent paper, an important skill for establishing credibility in your industry. Register now!Read More

IFCC is promoting the availability of two programmes that provide one-to-one support to individual laboratory medicine specialists. The IFCC Register of Experts and the IFCC Mentoring Programme are being facilitated by the Working Group for Personal Support (WG-PS)Read More

The 26th General Conference of CGPM was held in Versailles from 13-16 November 2018. The CGPM is an important global conference and business meeting on metrology, which is held every four years. This year’s CGPM meeting attracted global media attention because of the approval of a resolution to revise the international system of units (SI) so that they are all now linked to physical constants.Read More

The IFCC General Conference "Laboratory medicine: Preparing for the 2020’s” held in Budapest on 10 and 11 November 2018 provided an excellent environment for IFCC officers and National and Corporate representatives to meet and discuss present activities and projects, and to plan and decide on future actions of the organisation. A focus on progresses and trends, an opportunity to understand and invest in the value of laboratory medicine, and an opportunity to continue to work together to advance excellence in laboratory medicine for better healthcare worldwide.Read More

The third issue of eJIFCC for 2018 is now available. It is composed of articles focused on topics discussed at the conference entitled “Laboratory medicine: Meeting the needs of the Mediterranean nations”. The conference was held this year in Rome between July 2-4, with professor Sergio Bernardini as the Conference President. The current issue is part one of a two-part series, and contains articles covering three sections of the conference: • Transmissible diseases in the Mediterranean area; • Training and education in laboratory medicine; • Improving health with emerging technologiesRead More

eNews November issue is now available. It opens with a reflection on the evolving digital era and ethics, followed by the announcement of the UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence Award, where IFCC is one of the partners, and the presentation of AACC Learning Lab for Laboratory Medicine on NEJM Knowledge+. A report on a VLP in the Philippines, latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations and the calendar of Congresses close the issue. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities and news in the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The October issue of eNews is now available. A portrait of Dr Michael Metz, who passed away on 2 October, opens the issue. It is followed by a focus on C-CLM activities: a presentation of the Educational workshop on leadership and management held at PathCape 2018, and C-CLM survey results on laboratory leadership. An obituary for Prof Ian Wootton, the seventh article in a series about the CCTC, and a reflection on migrants, refugees and lab medicine follow. The issue is closed by the latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations and the calendar of Congresses. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities and news in the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The IFCC is deeply sad to announce that Dr Michael Metz passed away around midnight last night at St Andrews hospital (AU). Michael was a major influence in Paediatric Laboratory Medicine internationally through his work with the IFCC TF PLM and ICPLM. A dual fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, he was also valuable contributor to AACB both at the SA/NT Branch, and at National levels. Despite his illness, Michael continued to actively contribute to the AACB RCPAQAP Patient Comments and Sweat Testing Advisory Committees until recently. He was always willing to share his knowledge and will be greatly missed.Read More

The September issue of eNews is now available. It opens with a focus on the new IFCC Working Group on Vitamin D Standardization and a portrait of two new IFCC affiliate members, France and Kazakhstan: welcome to the IFCC family! Among other news: the Young Scientists survey initiative on training and career, a reflection on HIV/AIDS epidemics, and a report on the meeting of the WG-IANT in Guatemala. The latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations follow, along with PSEP experience and the calendar of Congresses. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The Communication and Publications Division (CPD) of the IFCC is pleased to announce that the IFCC Electronic Journal of IFCC (eJIFCC) archive is now completely reorganized and fully accessible on-line.Read More

The IFCC Task Force for Young Scientists invites you to complete the Survey: "YS training & career". Brought to you by the IFCC Task Force Young Scientists, this survey aims to acquire preliminary information of young colleague’s education, training, career path, research interest, field of work and association with TFYS. This will enable us to share and focus our energies to find support for base programmes that are needed.Read More

The IFCC Working Group on “How should Glucose Meters be Evaluated in Critical Care” (WG-GMECC) announces the 27th AACC International CPOCT Symposium, presented in collaboration with the AACC Critical and Point-of-Care Testing Division. “The Role of Point-of-Care Testing in a Value-Based Healthcare Landscape Symposium” will be held from Sep 26.2018 5:30 PM to Sep 29.2018 12:30 PM in Washington, DC, USA.Read More

The July-August issue of eNews is now available. This issue opens with an article describing the IFCC Guidelines for compliance with applicable codes of ethical business practice: a topic that is becoming increaslingly important and complex. It is followed by an article on IFCC WG-PCT: towards standardization of procalcitonin assays. Other news highlights include an IFCC DQCML report from Nepal, the presentation of the CCTC Journal Club, an interview on HbA1c testing in Europe, the results of an international IFCC survey of the reporting of protein electrophoresis and serum free light chains and a reflection on how future will be shaped by advances in biology and medicine, The latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations follow, along with PSEP experience and the calendar of Congresses. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The second issue of eJIFCC for 2018 is now available. Guest edited by Dr Harjit Pal Bhattoa (Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Debrecen, HU), it focuses on Laboratory Investigation of Vitamin D and Bone Metabolism Markers. Given the pandemic of vitamin D insufficiency experienced on a global scale it is important to understand the laboratory implications pertaining to the determination of this not so easily measured analyte. The articles in the current issue consider the many aspects related to Vitamin D. Three further articles complete the edition.Read More

The IFCC Task Force for Young Scientists invites you to join in for the sixth Complimentary Educational Webinar: Method Verification and Validation in Clinical Laboratories. Brought to you by the IFCC Task Force Young Scientists, this educational program focuses on good practices around method validation and verification in laboratories. Calendar is already availableRead More

Clinical laboratory testing plays an important role in the diagnosis, monitoring and prognostication of monoclonal gammopathies. Results are now available for the survey developed and conducted by the IFCC subgroup of the Working Group on the Harmonisation of Interpretive Commenting in EQA (WG-ICQA) to determine how clinical laboratories that perform routine protein testing for monoclonal gammopathy quantitate, interpret, and comment on M-proteins when reporting results.Read More

The June issue of eNews is now available. This issue opens with the report of a VLP held in Tunisia. It is followed by a touching article on Dr Tietz, passed away recently. Other news highlights include an article on Commutability, the presentation of the clinical case studies section of CCTC, a YS-Mentor interview, and a focus on AI in Laboratory Medicine. The latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations follow, along with PSEP experience and the calendar of Congresses. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

We are happy to announce that the 2018 - 2020 edition of the IFCC Handbook is now available. A valuable resource, the Handbook contains comprehensive information about the function and operation of IFCC including: IFCC Regional Organizations, Divisions, Committees and Working Groups; Full Members, Corporate Members and Affiliate Members; contact details; and Statutes and Rules of the IFCC. Read all the updated information about the function and operation of IFCC in a single online publication!Read More

On May 23, 2018 our profession of clinical chemistry laboratory medicine lost a great man and leader with the passing of Professor Norbert W. Tietz who was an icon as a scientist, author, editor, educator, mentor and colleague. During his lifetime, he made multiple outstanding contributions in several laboratory related disciplines and the books that he produced and edited remain the primary source of information for many laboratorians. In fact, his Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry is often affectionately referred to as the “The Bible” of Clinical Chemistry. He was an outstanding individual and consummate professional who was respected and admired worldwide. We will all miss him.Read More

The Annual IFCC Survey has been developed by CPD and the Committee on Public Relations to survey the membership across the organization and seek input on the impact and effectiveness of IFCC publications, scientific and educational programs, and various IFCC activities globally. Your feedback is important to design improved educational and communication tools. The survey closes on 15th June. Don't miss out! Please take 10mins to complete the survey today.Read More

Do you want to know about the activities that were carried out in 2017 by IFCC and its members? The IFCC Annual Report 2017 compiled by Dr David Kinniburgh, IFCC Secretary, is now available. A message from the IFCC past President, Prof. Maurizio Ferrari, welcomes the reader, followed by reports from IFCC Officers on key projects covering a wide range of clinical, scientific, educational and communication related topics. National or Area Societies and Regional Federation reports are also included, allowing the opportunity to communicate their activities to other members.Read More

The May issue of eNews is now available. This issue opens with the announcement of the Memorandum of Understanding between IFCC and AFCC with ASLM, aimed to strengthen and improve the quality of laboratory medicine in Africa. Other news highlights include activities of the new Committee on Clinical Applications of Cardiac Bio-Markers (CB), and a focus on the Committee on Value Proposition in Laboratory Medicine. Reports from VLP in India and from DQCML in Malawi follow, along with a presentation of the AACC CCTC and the latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations. The calendar of Congresses closes the issue. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The first issue of eJIFCC for 2018 is now available - the first edited by Prof. János Kappelmayer, director of a large clinical laboratory at the University of Debrecen, Hungary. eJIFCC, indexed on PubMed Central, has become an increasingly recognized journal, greatly due to the dedicated efforts of the former Editor-in Chief Professor Gábor L. Kovács. Prof. Kappelmayer's intention is to continue to publish thematic issues, along with research articles, free communications, letters, and book reviews. Articles in this first issue for 2018 will definitely be of interest to all practicing laboratory specialists. Topics include next generation sequencing for diagnosis of human disease, the investigation of leptin receptor polymorphism in rheumathoid arthritis, hematological parameters in HIV infected patients, and the new IFCC clinical chemistry curriculum developed a guide for trainees in clinical laboratory medicine.Read More

JCTLM is pleased to announce the publication of its 2018 Newsletter. Accompanying the distribution of the Newsletter is a special report on Commutability of Certified Reference Materials written by Greg Miller and Neil Greenberg. This special report will be described in more detail in the next News Update.Read More

The IFCC is happy to present the document “How Should Glucose Meters Be Evaluated for Critical Care”, prepared by the IFCC WG on How should Glucose Meters be Evaluated in Critical Care (WG-GMECC). The document addresses the clinical practice of using Blood Glucose Meters (BGM) and what requirements they must fulfill in order to be used in critically ill patients and in Professional Healthcare Settings on patients in various states of health and receiving intensive medical intervention and therapy.Read More

eNews March issue is now available. The issue opens with the presentation of the new IFCC Division, Emerging Technologies, chaired by Prof. Sergio Bernardini. Other featured news items include an article on the IFCC Curriculum, phase 1, as a tool for the eAcademy; the presentation of the IFCC -Gerard Siest triennial Award; a report from the IFCC TF for Young Scientists on their participation in the ACBICON Congress; and the first of a series of presentations of the AACC initiative CCTC. Latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations and the calendar of Congresses, Conferences and events follow. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The IFCC Curriculum, phase 1, was developed as part of the IFCC eAcademy project by the Committee for Distance Learning. Authors are: R. Greaves (AU), J. M. Smith (UK) and section authors are: R. Greaves, C Florkowski (NZ), L. Langman (US), J. Sheldon (UK). The IFCC Curriculum is a guide for IFCC member societies in their development of syllabuses for postgraduate trainees in laboratory medicine, appropriate for use in their own countries. It is also intended to provide a resource for trainees in planning their private study in preparation for academic and professional qualifications which lead to formal recognition of expertise and status as experts and leaders in the field of laboratory medicine.Read More

Register for the Complimentary Educational Webinar: Integration and Impact of High-Sensitive Troponin Testing in Improving Patient Care. The IFCC Task Force for Young Scientists invites you to join the first educational webinar for scientists and laboratorians in 2018. By attending this session, attendees will gain a better understanding of these new Troponin assays, how the test is being integrated, and the impact on clinical practice and the laboratory. It will be held on Thursday, February 15th, 2018 - 9:00 a.m. EST Don't miss this opportunity!Read More

The first eNews of 2018 is now available. The issue opens with a message by the IFCC President, Prof. Morris. Featured news includes an interesting report on the 14th International Congress of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, an article on Traceability and one on Accreditation of medical laboratories. Latest news from IFCC Federations and National Associations, a report by an IFCC Professional Exchange Programme participant follow. In 2018 eNews will be published monthly, increasing the number of newsletters annually to ten issues per year. Subscribe to the eNews to keep up with current activities around the laboratory medicine world!Read More

The Committee on Clinical Laboratory Management (C-CLM) is interested in your opinion. Spare 10 minutes to participate in the C-CLM Laboratory Leadership Learning Needs Assessment Survey today! Deadline for the survey is February 28. Your participation will help contribute toward developing a Laboratory Leadership Training Program that can be used by Clinical Laboratory Leaders to improve their leadership techniques and skills. Results of the survey will be shared but no individual responses will be presented and the privacy of individual respondents will be respected.Read More

Read the message that Prof. Morris, IFCC President, addresses to all IFCC member colleagues. Laboratory medicine currently faces significant challenges some of which confront all the healthcare disciplines. Professional leadership has never been more vital to provide strategies for improving the crucial role of laboratory medicine in patient care. Such leadership is provided by the IFCC, our regional federations and our national societies. As President, Prof Morris looks forward to extending the work of the IFCC in a range of important areas.Read More

The IFCC is proud to announce the formation of a new Division. The Emerging Technologies Division (ETD), chaired by Prof. Sergio Bernardini, is responsible for identifying and assessing emerging technologies and for translating the emerging and disruptive diagnostic and data analysis procedures from academic laboratories to clinical laboratories and from clinical laboratories to market.Read More